Apparatus for and method of weaving pile fabrics



Aug. 29,- 1939. F. M. KAUFMAN 2,171,357

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF WEAVING PILE FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 19, 1937 INVENTOQ. FRANK M. KAUFMfl/V ATTOQNEY.

Aug. 29, 1939. F. M. KAUFMAN 2,171,357

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF WEAVING FILE FABRICS Filed Oct. 19, 1937 2 sheetsr-sheet 2 FIG. III. 43"

FIG. V. 48 III YINVENTOQ. FE/INK M Mal-MAN BY W ATTO R lfEY.

Patented Aug. 29, 1939 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF WEAV- ING PILE FABRICS Application October 19,

14 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for the production of pile fabric, comprising cut pile tufts and more specifically, woven pile fabric having uncut loops and cut tufts, the tufts of which are higher than the uncut loops. Either or both the loops and the tufts may comprise animal fibres such as mohair, wool or silk; vegetable fibre, for example, cotton, ramie, jute; the so-called artificial fibres, or suitable blends, if

desired.

An important feature of the present invention consists in weaving a warp V-pile fabric on a double shuttle jacquard loom equipped with a 7 set of longitudinal, flexible and preferably round 1 5' sheddable wires, and a superposed set of stationary longitudinal fiat pile metal gauge. The flexible wires comprise a deflector for the loop supporting welt at their free ends. These wires cooperate with a reciprocating knife or cutter to form cut pile tufts on the loom. The invention further contemplates the use of two take-up pin rolls operating at different rates to facilitate the cutting of the tufts on the loom. The delivery of the pile warps from creels is controlled by the gig: tension on the pile warp threads as is known in connection with jacquard and dobby looms, as opposed to a positive mechanical warp delivery.

--An"-object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and a method of weaving pile fabrics having different pile heights, as above described, by formingtrue and false ground fabrics spaced apart by pile gauges and temporarily interconnected by cut pile-forming yarns during weaving and by forming supported loops intermediate the 3'5 two grounds.

A further object of the invention is to provide means to deflect loop-pile supporting wefts as the advancing fabric approaches the pile cutting knife.

1% A further object of the invention is to advance the false ground at a rate different from that of the true ground, to facilitate cutting of the interconnecting pile warps.

A further object of the invention is to arrange 5 i the relative positions of the sets of pile wires, relative to each other, the cutting mechanism and other loom parts, to facilitate inspection during weaving and to increase the efficiency of the co operating parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for producing a double fabric having a true and false ground, in which there is one-half as many picks in the false ground as in the true ground.

65' A further object of the invention is to pro- 1937, Serial No, 169,813

duce a pile fabric which when impregnated through the back with an adhesive such as aqueous dispersions of rubber containing vulcanizing substances, aqueous dispersions of nitrocellulose or organic solutions of rubber, will stand severe wear and the tufts will not be dislocated in normal wear.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds and by reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. I is a diagrammatic elevational view of a double shuttle loom showing an illustrative interlacing of threads according to my invention.

Fig II is a diagrammatic View of the pile wires and fabric and illustrates the formation of high and low pile in two double picks.

Fig. III illustrates a modified end construction of the shedded pile wires.

Figs. IV and V illustrate still further constructions of the shedded pile wire.

In the practice of my invention, I may utilize a double shuttle loom having a frame It, pivotally mounted on which are lay swords l l for supporting the lay l2 and reed I3. A pair of shuttles I4 and i5 are simultaneously picked to lay a pair of filling threads. As is usual, the loom may be connected to any suitable source of power by the gear l8 mounted on bottom shaft ll. The gear l6 meshing with gear IS on the crank shaft l9 oscillates the lay sword through pitman 2!].

Warp beam 2| may carry the warps for both grounds of the fabric or a separate beam may be used for each set of ground warps. Ground warps '22 are separated after passing from warp beam 2! around a whip roll 23, into two groups 24 and 25, one for each ground and formed into converging sheds by harness mechanism 26 comprising frames 21 and heddles 28. v

The pile yarn P may be drawn from a convenient supply of creels (not shown) and threaded to the mails 30 of jacquard heddles 3|. Spur gears 32 and 33 cooperate to drive the worm 34, gear 35, idler gear 36 and gears 31 and 38, the latter being mounted on one side of the loom to actuate the pin rolls 39 and 40. Gear 38 is slightly larger than gear 31, the number of teeth in the gears being 56 and 58 respectively. The pin rolls 39 and 40 being of equal size, it will be obvious that the lower fabric will be drawn a little more rapidly than the true fabric, with the result that a good tension for cutting will be imposed on the cut pile-forming yarns.

A set of stationary wires 41 extending substantially the width of the fabric is secured at the rear of the harness mechanism, each of the wires all has a free end and passes through a dent of the reed into the fabric about 3 inches. Below this set is a set of sheddable wires 42 having a defiector portion 43 and a loop on the opposite end positioned around a support 44. This support is located below the center line of the two fabrics in a plane substantially bisecting the angle the wire forms with the plane of the cloth during the open shed position. Compensating springs 45 connecting the support to a fixed part of the loom may allow for the shedding of the wires by permitting a limited sliding movement of the support, thereby avoiding movement of the wires within the fabric portion. Fig. III illustrates a slightly different form of the deflector 43 on the sheddable wire 42. This form may be conveniently made by a stamping operation. The deflector portion which extends forwardly of the free end of the stationary wire will properly position itself within the fabric during weaving to perform its intended function. The wire 42" illustrated in Fig. IV may be formed by a simple bending operation for the deflector 43" and the wire 42" illustrated in Fig. V shows an extension at the end of the deflector 43 for maintaining the loop supporting wefts away from the cutter. It should be noted that once the loop supporting wefts are deflected upwardly that they will remain in this position by clinging to the fibres of the pile. For this reason, it is not essential to locate the cutter under the wire or provide an extension 48 as in Fig. V under which the cutter may function.

Referring to Figs. I and II, pairs of the wefts, I, I; 2, 2'; 3, 3, etc., are inserted simultaneously by the shuttles l4 and I5, shuttle 14 on each pick laying a weft in the true fabric. Shuttle l5 inserts a weft below both sets of pile gauges and a weft intermediate the sets of gauges for each pair of wefts about which a pile bight is formed. It will be seen that the loop supporting weft may be inserted prior or subsequent to the ground weft of the waste fabric in a given cycle and that the number of picks in the waste fabric will be onehalf the number of picks in the true fabric in the preferred construction. With this arrangement, if there be for example picks to the inch in the true fabric, the waste fabric will carry 40 picks to the inch and will form a fabric sufficiently dense so that both legs of the tuft-forming yarn loop will be severed by the cutter as the fabric is advanced during weaving. The loop supporting wefts and the waste fabric wefts may be larger in diameter than the ground wefts of the true fabric, if desired.

Gear 38 turns pin roller 40 slightly slower than pin roller 39 because of the difference in the number of teeth in the gears 31 and 38, and the false fabric, accordingly tends to be drawn ahead of the true fabric and down away from it. The tension on the tuft-forming yarns is thus comparatively greater, which fact facilitates the cutting of the pile and also aids in drawing the bights close to the wefts of the true fabric. The deflector portions 43 on the shedded wires move the loop-supporting wefts away from the waste fabric and prevent any floats, which may be present due to the particular pattern being woven, from getting into the path of the reciprocating cutter 46. Cutter 46 severs the pile tufts very close to the waste fabric and the cutting edge is positioned as close as possible to the free ends of the shedded wire without injury to the cutting edge. Very close to the false ground in this specification means as close or closer to the waste fabric than is the remote side of the set of pile wires in contact with the waste fabric during weaving at a point at which a vertical section would include both sets of wires. After cutting, both fabrics are drawn off by the pin rollers to take-off means (not shown).

Fabrics woven according to my invention are preferably, but not necessarily, woven face down to enable the operator to readily inspect the true fabric for defects as it is being woven. In this arrangement, the tufts will be more uniformly severed because the false fabric may be drawn down on the stiffer bottom or breast rail 46 and under top rail 41.

In the production of quality fabric of the class described, a loom reed having 800 dents in 57 inches of width with 70% free space has been used. Round shedded wires greater than .040 of an inch in diameter do not function well in such a reed during weaving. As they determine the difference in pile height, it has been found to be diflicult to shear the tips of the longer loops off the loom as they tend to flatten under the shear. By the use of a false fabric, this difficulty is overcome, and I am enabled to cut the tufts on the loom.

The pile tufts form Vs with their ground and the warps in the true ground may or may not interlace with the wefts in flats, that is, a warp may pass over the wefts on opposite sides of each pile bight. If the fibres of the pile yarn are of the nature of mohair and a V-weave be utilized, the back of the fabric may be impregnated with an adhesive anchoring medium, to prevent dislodgment of the tufts or loops while the fabric is in use.

Having described preferred embodiments of my invention and intending tobe limited only by the scope of the appended claims, I claim:

1. In a pile fabric loom, a reed having dents, a supply of ground warp threads for forming a true and false ground, pile warp threads for forming high cut and lower uncut pile, shedding mechanism which interconnects the high cut pile forming threads with both grounds, two sets of superposed pile gauges, one set being stationary and the other set being sheddable, the individual gauges of each set being secured rearwardly of the reed and extending longitudinally of the warp threads through reed dents, said individual gauges having free ends, and pile severing means near the free ends of the sheddable gauges arranged to sever only the high pile formed by the pile warps, said pile severing means being aligned with the sheddable gauges and having a horizontal cutting edge between the horizontal planes of the top and the bottom of that portion of the sheddable gauges which is within the woven fabric during weaving.

2. In a pile fabric loom, a reed having dents, a supply of ground warp threads for forming a true and false ground, pile warp threads for forming high cut and lower uncut pile, shedding mechanism which interconnects the high cut pile forming threads with both grounds, two sets of pile gauges, one set being stationary and the other set being sheddable, the individual gauges of each set being secured rearwardly of the reed and extending longitudinally of the warp threads through reed dents, said individual gauges having free ends, pile severing means near the free ends of the sheddable gauges arranged to sever only the high pile formed by the pile warps very close tothe false ground, and two take-up means, one for each ground, and means for actuating said take-up means at different rates.

3. In a pile fabric loom, a reed having dents, a supply of ground warp threads for forming a true and false ground, pile warp threads for forming high cut and lower uncut pile, shedding mechanism which interconnects the high cut pile forming threads with both grounds, two sets of pile gauges, one set being stationary and the other set being sheddable, the individual gauges of each set being secured rearwardly of the reed and extending longitudinally of the warp threads through reed dents, said individual gauges having free ends, pile severing means near the free ends of the sheddable gauges arranged to sever only the high pile formed by the pile warps, and a weft deflector formed on the sheddable gauges and positioned forwardly of the free ends of the stationary gauges and on the same side of the sheddable gauges as is the stationary set of gauges to deflect pile supporting weft out of the path of the severing means.

4. In a pile fabric loom, a reed having dents, a supply of ground warp threads for forming a true and false ground, pile warp threads for forming high cut and lower uncut pile, shedding mechanism which interconnects the high cut pile forming threads with both grounds, two sets of superposed pile gauges, a top set being stationary and a bottom set being sheddable, the individual gauges of each set being secured rearwardly of the reed and extending longitudinally of the warp threads through reed dents, said individual gauges having free ends and pile severing means near the free ends of the sheddable gauges arranged to sever only the high pile formed by the pile warps, said pile severing means being aligned with the shedd-able gauges and having a horizontal cutting edge between the horizontal planes of the top and the bottom of that portion of the sheddable gauges which is within the woven fabric during weaving.

5. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers, and superposed sets of pile gauges consisting of a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts simultaneously and interlacing warps with said wefts, one weft of each pair being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and other of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the flexible pile gauges.

6. In the maufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a movable weft carrier, and superposed sets of pile gauges consisting of a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying wefts and interlacing warps with said wefts, some of said wefts being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops and others of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the flexible pile gauges.

'7. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers, and superposed sets of pile gauges consisting of a top set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a bottom set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts simultaneously and interlacing warps with said wefts, one weft of each pair being laid on the top side of both sets of gauges to form. a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and other of the wefts are laid below both sets of gauges to interlace with ground threads to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the flexible pile gauges.

8. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a movable weft carrier, and superposed sets of pile gauges consisting of a top set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a bottom set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying wefts and interlacing warps with said wefts, some of said wefts being laid on the top side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops and others of the wefts are laid below both sets of gauges to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the flexible pile gauges.

9. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers, and superposed sets of pile gauges consisting of a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts, simultaneously and interlacing warps with said wefts, one weft of each pair being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that one-half of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and the other half of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the flexible pile gauges.

10. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously moveable weft carriers, a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts simultaneously and interlacing warps with said weft, one weft of each pair being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and other of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns,

deflecting the loop supporting wefts toward the true ground and severing on the loom the interconnecting pile yarns very close to the false ground.

11. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a moveable weft carrier, a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying wefts and interlacing warps with said wefts, some of said wefts being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops and Others of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns, deflecting the loop supporting wefts toward the true ground and severing on the loom the interconnecting pile yarns very close to the false ground.

12. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously moveable weft carriers, a set of stationary longitudinal pile gauges and a set of longitudinal flexible pile gauges, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts simultaneously and interlacing warps with said wefts, one weft of each pair being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the set of flexible gauges so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and other of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns, advancing the false ground faster than the true ground, and severing on the loom the in terconnecting pile yarns very close to the false ground.

13. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a pair of simultaneously moveable weft carriers and two sets of superposed longitudinal pile gauges having free ends, the steps which comprise, laying pairs of wefts simultaneously and interlacing warps with said wefts, one weft of each pair being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding one set of the gauges so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops, and other of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the shedded pile gauges.

14. In the manufacture of pile fabrics in a loom having a moveable weft carrier and two sets of superposed longitudinal pile gauges having free ends, the steps which comprise, laying wefts and interlacing warps with said wefts, some of said wefts being laid on the same side of both sets of gauges to form a true ground, and shedding the gauges so that some wefts are laid between the sets of gauges to support pile loops and others of the wefts are laid to interlace with ground warps to form a false ground, interconnecting said true and false grounds during weaving with pile yarns, deflecting the wefts between the gauges toward the true ground and severing on the loom that portion of the interconnecting pile yarns which after weaving and before cutting is between the top and bottom of the shedded pile gauges which are next adjacent the false ground.

FRANK M. KAUFMAN. 

